Here's What Actually Happens To Your Body When You Drink A Coke

It's not pretty.

By
RHEANNA O'NEIL BELLOMO

Jul 30, 2015

Getty Images

We already know that Coca-Cola—and virtually every other soda—is loaded with sugar. (We also know that Coke does crazy things when mixed with liquid nitrogen.) But have you ever wondered exactly what it's doing to our bodies? According to The Daily Mail, a new infographic has the answers—and it's more than a little distressing.

The diagram, created by The Renegade Pharmacist, illustrates your body on the inside the first hour after you drink a can of Coke, in five- and ten-minute intervals. In just the first ten minutes, your body uses phosphoric acid to cut the sweetness of 10 teaspoons of sugar—your recommended intake for the entire day. Ten minutes after that your blood sugar spikes, which causes an insulin burst.

After just 45 minutes, the caffeine absorption completes and your eyes dilate, blood pressure rises, and adenosine receptors in your brain are blocked, preventing drowsiness. Plus, dopamine production goes into hyperdrive—much like when someone takes heroin.

But by minute 60, the caffeine will force you to make a bathroom run—so you'll lose any of the calcium, magnesium, zinc, sodium, electrolytes, and water that you were about to absorb. Damn. After that, it's, Hello, giant sugar crash.

At that point, it's up to you whether you chose to pop open another can and start the process all over again.

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